Japan vs. Saudi Arabia: WQC Match Preview, Odds & Predictions

When Japan hosts Saudi Arabia in Saitama on Tuesday, they will aim to maintain its perfect record in the 2026 World Cup qualification.

The Samurai Blue beat Bahrain on Thursday to seal qualifying, while Saudi Arabia is in third place in Group C.

Previous Matches and Head-to-head

With goals from Daichi Kamada and Take Kubo in Thursday's 2-0 home win against Bahrain, Japan were the first side to confirm their berth at next summer's championship.

With six victories from seven games in the third stage of World Cup qualification (D1), the Samurai Blue have now gone undefeated in all thirteen of their qualifying fixtures.

Japan will be eager to keep their perfect record intact in their last three matches against Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Indonesia, even though they are assured of a spot in the World Cup finals for the seventh year in a row.

Having scored 24 goals in seven matches in Group C, 10 more than any other side in the second round of qualifying, Japan will be hoping for another impressive attacking performance.

Hajime Moriyasu's squad's defensive tenacity has been on full display in its eleven shutouts in thirteen qualifying matches.

Saudi Arabia, in contrast to the hosts, still has some work to do before it can reach the World Cup finals for the third year in a row.

With Thursday's 1-0 home victory attributable to Salem Al-Dawsari's second-half effort, they have won only two of their seven matches in the second round of qualifying (D3, L2). Both of those triumphs were against China.

With their present position, Saudi Arabia is one point shy of an automatic qualification berth and three points ahead of the bottom two. They are now positioned to advance to the next round.

Having gone scoreless in four of their last five qualifying matches, the Green Falcons will need to improve their final third performance to secure second place.

With three wins, two draws, and one loss from six road games in this qualifying cycle, they have shown they can be a formidable opponent.

Japan x Saudi Arabia Team News

Due to injuries, Hidemasa Morita (midfielder) and Ayase Ueda (forward) withdrew from the Japanese team, meaning they would not be available to play.

Ao Tanaka of Leeds United and Shuto Machino of Holstein Kiel are the two players most likely to succeed Morita and Ueda.

Junya Ito is another name who might be given the opportunity to play from the start, while Crystal Palace's Kamada is also vying for a starting position after scoring in Thursday's substitute appearance.

Due to a muscle injury sustained in the victory against China, Roma defender Saud Abdulhamid will likely not be available to Herve Renard and the visiting team.

Center back Hassan Kadesh of Al-Ittihad is a doubt for Tuesday's matchup due to an injury, similar to Abdulhamid, who was substituted off on Thursday.

Muhannad Al-Shanqeeti will replace Abdulhamid at right back, while Ali Lajami will replace Kadesh in the centre of the defence.

Our Predictions

Japan to win @ 1.42 on Sky247.ng

We believe Saudi Arabia will struggle to take much from Tuesday's meeting since Japan has won 12 of its 13 matches in the current qualifying campaign despite its desperation to improve its World Cup qualification ambitions.

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